Mid City! It's been too long...

I always forget how much cool stuff is going on in Mid City.  I don't get to that neighborhood much, especially since I moved away.  Just had one of my best days in recent memory over in that part of town.

My friend who lives out there came to pick me up in the early afternoon.  First we stopped at that big, beautiful Rouse's supermarket to pick up some snacks.  Forgot how nice that one is!

After catching up and relaxing around the house for a while, it was time to venture out for some real food.  We were paralyzed with indecision.  Where to go?  So many wonderful choices!

And then we drove past Five Happiness.  Oh, Five Happiness...

If you're in New Orleans and you want Chinese food, Five Happiness is the ONLY place to go.  Seriously.  Neither one of us had been there in years, since long before the hurricane.  We couldn't think of single reason not to stop the car.

So glad we did.

After, there was only one logical place for us to go for dessert.  Total no-brainer.  If you're in New Orleans and you're in Mid City and you want dessert, you go to Angelo Brocato's.    

Yeah, there was a line out the door.  There's always a line out the door.  It's been there since 1905, run by the Brocato family for one hundred and four years.  And, yes, it's THAT good.

                                                

He got the Sicilian pistachio.  I got the mint chip.  We probably didn't need the cannoli.  But we just couldn't help ourselves.

We rolled back to the house all fat and happy and threw on a movie.  Two stuffed pigs, all sprawled out on the couch.

Wow.  All that, AND the most delectable Cajun to walk the face of the earth for a late-night snack?  It's so fucking good to be home...

                        

Mike and Jarius and alligator bisque

When you go to New Orleans, you must go to the Hermes bar at Antoine's to see my friends Mike and Jarius.

Michael and I used to bartend together at Muriel's.  We were a dangerous duo.  Some of the best times I've ever had behind a bar.  I've never had the pleasure of working with Jarius, but I would love to.  Maybe when I move back!

Anyway, you really should go see those guys.  Great guys.  They will mix you a perfect sazerac, and they will feed you alligator bisque.

  You will love it.  Trust me.

And before you ask, yes, Jarius is pouring those sazeracs into to-go cups.  It's legal to order drinks to-go in New Orleans.  That's why it's the most civilized city in the U.S.

Laissez les bon temps rouler, cher ti bebe!

Boudin balls

How has my trip home been so far?  Well, two hours after I got off the plane I was eating a duck po-boy and a bowl of gumbo from Crabby Jacks...

                                

Six hours after I got off the plane I was eating a plate of boudin balls...

                                       

And eight hours after I got off the plane I was naked in a jacuzzi.  Don't have any pictures of that.  Sorry.

What are boudin balls, you ask?  Well, you know what boudin is, right?  No?  Oh dear.  Let me try to explain.  It's sort of like sausage but not quite.  They take ground pork, season the fuck out of it, mix it with rice, and stuff it into a casing.  You then squeeze the meat and rice mixture of bliss into your mouth from one end, sort of like toothpaste.  You're not meant to eat the casing.  That would be nasty.

Now, when they make boudin balls, they take that same wonderful pork/rice mix, but instead of stuffing it into a casing, THEY DEEP-FRY THAT SHIT.  A culinary masterpiece, I tell you.  I love New Orleans!

So yeah, I'd say my trip home has been pretty good so far...

Shadow Shot Sunday

Palm trees.  Somewhere near Paia, Maui.

  

        

SSS

S.A.L.T.S

Do you like sardines?  I don't like sardines.  My friend Jonny Hamachi loves sardines.  He loves sardines so much he has a whole website devoted to them.  If you like sardines, you should check it out:

                          http://www.sardinesociety.com/

Jonny Hamachi says the reason I don't like sardines is that I just haven't had the right kind yet.  He says he is positive he can lure me into the world of tinned fish bliss.  Thinks he knows just which kind to use as bait.

So, I'm willing to take you up on the challenge, ya heard me, Jonny?  Next time we have an afternoon free, I'm coming over to visit the dogs.  Then we begin, sardines vs. wanderlust, round one.  Let's go!

Eye Candy

Maui wowie.

Some beautiful backs...

Ten screws, eight pins, one metal plate

That's what I have in my knee right now.  Apparently I did a fantastic job of fucking shit up in there.  These photos were taken on September 30th, thirty-three days after my surgery:

                                                 

Sexy, huh?

I went to the doctor yesterday.  Finally got the OK to start walking on it again.  It was my first time standing on two feet since August 22nd.  That's seventy-three days.  Ten weeks.  Two and a half months.  However you want to look at it, it's way too fucking long to be hopping around on one leg. 

Feels amazing to walk with two feet.  Who cares if I'm still on crutches?  I'M WALKING WITH TWO FEET!!  It's incredible what a huge difference that makes.

Does it hurt?  Oh yeah, it fucking hurts.  But I don't care.  I walked all the way to the Walgreens and back today.  Eight whole blocks.  Doesn't sound like much, I know.  But to me, it was miraculous.

My muscles have completely atrophied.  The pain in the knee, I can handle that.  But when I tried to stand on that leg without crutches, it buckled.  Felt like jello.  It can't support my body anymore.  Too weak.  Going to take some time to get it back in shape.  I don't care.  Bring it.  It's on, bitch!  I'll be climbing mountains again before you know it.

Yeah you right!

                                      

WHO DAT!!

That's right baby.  7-O.  I was strutting around town proud as a peacock yesterday, still wearing my Saints T-shirt from the night before.  Yeah you right!

        

False advertising

I’m sick and tired of seeing fleur de lis everywhere.

It’s not because I don’t love New Orleans.  I do.  Oh, I do.  I really do.

And that’s exactly why I’m sick of seeing fleur de lis everywhere.  You see, for some reason, the fleur de lis has become some kind of trendy fashion accessory in recent years.  A fashion accessory that has absolutely nothing to do with New Orleans.  They’re everywhere now.  Faded fleur de lis printed on expensive jeans.  Fancy fleur de lis all tricked out on douchey T-shirts.  I even saw fleur de lis on a pair of sunglasses recently.

Well, I have just one thing to say about all of this.

BACK THE FUCK OFF OUR FLEUR DE LIS, MOTHERFUCKERS!

I’ve had quite enough of seeing fleur de lis and thinking, “Yay! Saints fan!  New Orleans native!  One of my people!”  Only to go say hello and find out it’s just some idiot trying to look cool.

A while back some big old bag o’douche from L.A. came into the bar.  You’ve seen this type before.  Three hundred dollar jeans, black sport coat over a T-shirt, metro-sexual facial hair, artfully gelled coif.  Cocky-ass, self-entitled, I-am-the-shit attitude.  I wanted to slap him before he even said a word.  But that might have gotten me fired.

Being nice to people is a part of my job, so I asked about the big, shiny fleur de lis on his T-shirt.  “Oh,” I said, “Are you a Saints fan?”  He looked at me, perplexed.  “Huh?”

“A Saints fan.  The fleur de lis on your shirt.  Are you a Saints fan?”  He looked down at his shirt.  “Oh, this?  I just bought this shirt, I don’t even know what that symbol means.”  I graduated from wanting to slap him to wanting to pummel him.

New Orleanians!  We cannot idly stand by and allow this to continue!  We must unite!  We must take back our beloved fleur de lis!  We mustn’t allow douche bags and clueless fashion victims to desecrate our beloved symbol of hometown pride, our sacred sign of Saints football!  We must stand firm.  Otherwise, we’ll be forced to abandon the fleur de lis completely, and then we’ll be stuck with a giant crawfish or something stupid like that.  Stand tall with me, my brothers and sisters!  We have a battle to fight!  Take no prisoners! 

This message brought to you by the Society for the Prevention of the Misrepresentation of the New Orleans Fleur de Lis.  Yeah you right!

                             

A Lot of Moving

Through the wonders of facebook, I am back in touch with someone I haven't spoken to in fifteen years.  Wow.  This facebook thing is crazy.  It's also slightly creepy.  I got a friend request from a friend of a friend who was in town for Mardi Gras one time like six years ago.  We hung out once.  Why on earth do you want to be my friend?  You don't even know me.

Although, it did bring Wooo Bobby back into my life!  I remember vividly the last time I spoke to Wooo Bobby.  It was about three and a half years ago, on my thirtieth birthday.  I was in Lake Tahoe, sitting outside of my hotel room staring at the woods.  Wooo Bobby was living in Ruidoso, New Mexico.  We had a long and lovely phone conversation.  We talked about missing New Orleans and each other and maybe him coming to San Francisco for a visit.

Wooo Bobby and I used to bartend together in New Orleans.  He is one of the funniest and most beautiful souls on the planet and I love him more than you can know.  We lost touch, his phone wasn't working.  I tried to find him.  No luck.

To be honest, Wooo Bobby was the entire reason I joined facebook.  When I looked up his name and saw his face, I could resist no longer.  I HAD to get in touch with my boy!  My life is a hundred times better now that Wooo Bobby is in it again.  He's living in North Carolina and life is good.  Sweet.

Back to the friend I hadn't spoken to in fifteen years.  He sent me a message saying, "So. Girl. What the hell have you been up to for the past FIFTEEN years?!"

Yikes.  Long story.  I told him that this would pretty much sum things up...

                    http://popup.lala.com/popup/504684648074972421

Yeah.  That sounds about right.  Enough said!